Katie Reviews: October favourites
The Tattoo Murder by Akimitsu Takagi
After reading the recently translated works of Seishi Yokomizo (The Honjin Murder, The Inugami Curse, and Death on Gokumon Island) I decided to branch out into the Japanese crime novels and try the newly translated novel by Akimitsu Takagi ‘The Tattoo Murder’, published by Pushkin Press on the 6th October 2022. This novel is set in Tokyo in 1947 at the first post-war meeting of the Edo Tattoo Society, at the society Kinue Nomura reveals her full body tattoo, days later she is found dismembered in a locked room and the tattoo missing. This locked room mystery is a perfect read for those who are a fan of Yokomizo or Yukito Ayatsuji author of The Decagon House Murders as this novel brings to life Japanese culture with a plot similar to that of an Agatha christie novel. All the while educating the reader of life post war in a culture that viewed those with tattoos as criminals.
This book left me speechless, I decided to read this book after it was shortlisted for the Booker award and went into it completely unprepared. This book starts with brutal murders in Money, Mississippi, and investigators from the MBI (Mississippi Bureau of investigation) are sent to help the local sheriff after one of the bodies goes missing. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body - that of a man who resembles Emmett Till, a young black boy lynched in the same town 65 years before. This novel highlights the history of racism in America and makes reference to present-day influences of individuals like Donald Trump on communities. This novel is a fast-paced read careful constructed to have the reader laughing one second at the humour laced into the story and the next second have the reader crying at the harrowing truths of American history. This is a definite must read for anyone interested in crime, true crime, and history novels and a very worthy Booker shortlist, but be prepared you will need tissues for the tears.